“This is a very great honour for me and for my family, for my friends and my colleagues here around the country, on the planet and even a few outside the planet,” she said minutes after her appointment was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday.

Payette retired from the Canadian Space Agency in 2013, and became the chief operating officer of the Montreal Science Centre, a position she left just last year.

She will likely be installed as Governor General during a ceremony this fall.